I mainly just want to read books about the life black people had in the north compared to the south during Jim Crow because I know they were treated more favorably in the North. See what they had to go through. Any length is fine by me!
by Academic-Idea3311
7 Comments
*The Warmth of Other Suns* by Isabel Wilkerson goes into this a lot.
It’s a play, but “A Raisin In The Sun” follows a black family in Chicago in 1959
I recommend the book *Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America*, by Cameron McWhirter. Blacks were treated somewhat more favorably in the North during the Jim Crow Era, but still faced a great deal of discrimination, some of it deadly. McWhirter’s book covers the Red Summer of 1919 race riots — started by whites and victimizing blacks — that took place in the North, South, and West. Cities affected included Chicago, IL; Washington, D.C.; Charleston, SC; Longview, TX; Omaha, NE; Houston, TX; and Knoxville, TN.
*The Autobiography of Malcolm X*, by Alex Haley and Malcolm X, tells the story of black nationalist leader Malcolm X, who was born in Nebraska in 1925 but spent most of his childhood in Michigan. As a teenager he moved to Boston, then in his 20s moved to New York City. After spending time in prison he became a voracious reader, then joined the Nation of Islam and became a prominent speaker. His story shows that growing up black in the North was no bed of roses.
*A Raisin in the Sun* is a 1959 play by Lorraine Hansberry about the Younger family, a black working class family in Chicago struggling with poverty and racial discrimination. Although it’s fiction, it’s considered semi-autobiographical, since it’s heavily influenced by Hansberry’s own experience growing up black in Chicago.
*Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells*, by Ida B. Wells-Barnett, tells the story of a woman born into slavery in 1862 and freed as an infant. She later moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where her crusading journalism forced her to leave town and move to Chicago. There she continued writing, speaking, and organizing for civil rights and the women’s movement. She was one of the founders of the NAACP. Although she was safer in Chicago than in the South, she still documented and fought a great deal of discrimination in the North.
Passing by Larsen
The Street by Petry
Harlem Shuffle by Whitehead
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by McBride
*The Ways of White Folks* by Langston Hughes
It’s a collection of short stories, some of which take place in NY; and most if not all are set/written around the 1920s. It’s one of my favorite books!
ETA: And while yes, they were treated “more favorably” compared to the south, you’ll find they were still not treated favorably at all. Not even in the northeast.
August Wilson has written stage plays on the black experience in Pittsburgh spanning every decade from 1900 to 1990! Ten screenplays in total each about 110 pages. The first handful would fit this bill
Passing by Nella Larsen